Those nostalgic for a simpler time, a time when the dinner hour was a fixed ritual observed by most American families, probably can’t find much to like about the erratic, sporadic, and frequently rushed version of the modern evening meal.

consider concepts such as Dinner by Design and Super Suppers, which are thriving by offering meals that meet three distinct criteria: they’re customizable, they offer considerable variety, and they can be prepared at home on the consumer’s schedule.

I have to say I’m a little skeptical of the concept and the information. Seems somewhat amusing to say Dinner by Design is thriving since the parent company went out of business. And Super Suppers is enjoying a nice 50% reduction in their store openings. Interesting those two stores were single out based on their past performance. I would have to say thriving is once again a relative term.

There is some harsh reality rolled up in this one and the numbers are starting to show there are closer to 900 stores left standing across the country. It didn’t take long to slip below the 1,000 mark that was quoted just a short time ago.

A couple of years ago, meal-preparation businesses were sprouting across the country. Trend spotters were commenting on the growth, and franchisers were talking big.

But what seemed like promising prospects turn out to have been not so robust, and the once-surging sector now is shrinking.

The widely embraced idea was that time-strapped folks would flock to commercial kitchens where they could buy ingredients, follow recipes and in a couple of hours "assemble" several nutritious meals to place on the family table.

As many of you know Dinner by Design was on borrowed time as they set September 30th as their final day of operations. Obviously that time has come and Dinner by Design did indeed close as a franchise and handed over the reigns to the local owners who wished to pursue things on their own. Some have decided to stay and use the resources left to them, while others have taken the â€œopportunityâ€ to remove themselves from the meal assembly business.

No matter which path you choose, it’s a daunting task. Hopefully the owners will find success and happiness on whichever path they take.

It’s unfortunate but not without irony that the Dinner by Design takeover was announced, a slew of press releases issued, declarations of how their “rocking” and know what they doing were announced and now they have closed the franchise all within a year’s time. It’s also plausible that since other companies has taken over the helm of other meal assembly franchises that we could see a few more examples of this in the not too distant future.

In mere days, September 1st to be exact, Dinner by Design will exist in name only and even that is somewhat debatable at this stage. To celebrate the year anniversary of buying out the franchise business from Julie Duffy, Dinner by Design will close shop, have the owners sign an agreement to mutually let each other off the hook and go their separate ways.

The promised growth never became a reality and the expansion through the Midwest, as touted in the multitude of press releases never came to fruition. Such grand plans and innovative measures just didn’t put Dinner by Design on the map. And now the head office is going to walk away. It’s hard to image how much they paid and how much they’ve lost on this business deal over the course of the year. I guess we’ll a few more million to the running total of debt that meal assembly has caused.

Next Monday is D-Day, but with the clock ticking down there seems to be surprisingly little information coming out of HQ about how the owners will proceed on their own. They don’t seem to have all the paperwork, calls aren’t being answered and if things don’t get moving forward who’s going to get left holding the bag?

Has the corporate office already checked out? Did they just throw up their hands and turn off the lights? I’m sure it’s a terribly frustrating time since they spend all that money to buy into the franchise and have yet to see a return on their investment. Again, welcome to the table of reality, since it’s the same story owners have been facing for nearly two years now.

But it looks like Julie is living the charmed life, just like Marcia, since she managed to get rid of the ticking time bomb of meal assembly before it went off.